Public inquiry and Consultation Committee

Coronavirus measures:

Extension of periods

Pursuant to the power of attorney decision No. 2020/038 (PDF, 312.53 KB) adopted by the Government of the Brussels Capital Region on 10 June 2020, some terms of the Brussels Town Planning Code and the Ordinance of 5 June 1997 on environmental permits have also been extended, depending on the date of the submission of the application, the type of application or the stage of the procedure.

Public inquiries

Public inquiries were suspended from 16 March to 16 June 2020, due to the lockdown.

The restart involves many measures and a specific organization to ensure that the social distance rules as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

For example, from now on, the consultation of the administrative file, the communication of technical explanations or submission of an oral complaint are by appointment only (02 279 29 29).

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, the restart of the special rules of disclosure (SRD = public inquiry and/or consultation committee) happens after the regulatory summer break, based on a chronological treatment of the files (based on the date of receipt of the last documents added to the file).

Consequently, files that could not be fully declared and of which the SRD could not be organized due to the lockdown get priority. Once this backlog has been made up, the files that must be declared complete after the lockdown will be processed on an identical chronological basis.

According to the current estimate, the latter files will therefore not be able to be subjected to public inquiry until about mid-November, according to a schedule yet to be determined and as far as the evolution of the sanitary situation allows. Moreover, they will not simultaneously be able to be submitted for advice to the consultation committee.

The dates and agendas of the meetings of the consultation committee can therefore only be determined after the public inquiries have ended, in function of the responses received. After all, these determine how many files can be handled per session as well as where the hearings can take place. After all, our rooms only allow a limited number of participants, which means that certain sessions may have to be organized at a different location.

Consult the ongoing public inquiries at:

• Files subjected to public inquiry

Consultation Committee

The meetings of the Consultation Committee were canceled or suspended from 16 March to 16 June 2020. The restart is accompanied by numerous measures and a specific organization to ensure that the rules of social distance as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help control the spread of Covid-19.

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, the restart of the special rules of disclosure (SRD = public inquiry and/or consultation committee) happens after the regulatory summer break, based on a chronological treatment of the files (based on the date of receipt of the last documents added to the file).

Consequently, files that could not be fully declared and of which the SRD could not be organized due to the lockdown get priority. Once this backlog has been made up, the files that must be declared complete after the lockdown will be processed on an identical chronological basis.

According to the current estimate, the latter files will therefore not be able to be subjected to public inquiry until about mid-November, according to a schedule yet to be determined and as far as the evolution of the sanitary situation allows. Moreover, they will not simultaneously be able to be submitted for advice to the consultation committee.

The dates and agendas of the meetings of the consultation committee can therefore only be determined after the public inquiries have ended, in function of the responses received. After all, these determine how many files can be handled per session as well as where the hearings can take place. After all, our rooms only allow a limited number of participants, which means that certain sessions may have to be organized at a different location.

Consult the new dates of the Consultation Committee meetings, the agenda and the advice issued by the Committee on:

• Agenda and advice from the Consultation Committee

From now on, the following rules apply during the hearings:

• Only persons who expressly requested to be heard during the public inquiry will be admitted to the consultation committee
• In the case of a petition, district committee or other association, the number of persons admitted to the consultation committee is limited to two per petition, per district committee or per association
• Only persons in possession of an invitation are admitted to the consultation committee
• The number of persons accompanying or representing the applicant is strictly limited to two, including the architect

Please note: on 1 September 2019, a thorough reform came into force of the Brussels Planning Code (CoBAT - BWRO) and the Environmental Permit Ordinance (OPE - OMV). This reform made major changes to the procedures for the submission, handling, delivery and appeal of planning and environmental permits (certificates): reform of town planning legislation